Brickbending

[LegoCityMann]

I was searching the web for news articles on LEGO and came across a cool blog at http://www.brickbending.com The techniques and examples are so cool I had to give it a try. Here's what I made. It contains 300 1x2's of various colors.

I figured it would fall apart the first time I tried to move it but it's surprisingly stable. I was able to pick it up, hold it, and even roll it around and it still hasn't shattered back into 300 pieces. I've seen something similar done alternating 1x2's and round 1x1. Anyone else tried this with any success? The website has a alot of other cool examples of what this guy has done with this technique.

~LCM

[Artanis I]

Very interesting... some cool shapes there, it would be difficult to integrate any of that stuff into a regular scene though. But I'm sure some smart cookie would be able to find a way to fit the technique into a MOC.

[Lego Otaku]

I've done it with 1x3 brick and 1x1 round brick. A bit more stable than 1x2 bricks and 1x1 round bricks for handling or rolling but both are fine as towers or something in a MOC.

[Brickdoctor]

This technique of stressed bricks has been around for a while. You can use it in everything from towers to ship hulls.

[Fallenangel]

This technique of stressed bricks has been around for a while. You can use it in everything from towers to ship hulls.

That's right! Famously applied here:

EDIT: I also came across a presentation on it in the Eurobricks Index of Tutorials when I first joined.

Edited June 22, 2011 by fallenangel309

[Brickdoctor]

I was actually thinking of Town ships, but that works, too. Which MF is that? Pepa Quin's?

[Fallenangel]

I was actually thinking of Town ships, but that works, too. Which MF is that? Pepa Quin's?

Yes, that is Pepa's amazing MOC... I even seem to remember him referring to the technique as 'stressing the brick' in an interview or something of the sort.

[tedbeard]

I used it to build a bridge in 2009:

[davee123]

The most extreme use of this technique I've ever seen was a radius of roughly 11 or 12 bricks, being done by one of the Master Builders on the Millyard Project. The wall kept literally EXPLODING from the strain, and he had to repeatedly start all over again. Not sure how many times he built it before it finally stayed together!

DaveE

[Vindicare]

Wow, those are cool! I really like the spiral one that was in all yellow. I've seen a few towers on here than were a cylinder, I'm gonna have to gather up some 2x2s and give that a try.

[Brickdoctor]

The most extreme use of this technique I've ever seen was a radius of roughly 11 or 12 bricks, being done by one of the Master Builders on the Millyard Project. The wall kept literally EXPLODING from the strain, and he had to repeatedly start all over again. Not sure how many times he built it before it finally stayed together!

I would assume he just kept doing it until the stress bent each individual brick and allowed him to finish the model.

[Eskallon]

I love this technique and find it to me it seems like the best possible way to build and round tower, no other way will ever the give the quality way of how this works. I would love to one day the 'great tower' from Hogwarts being built like this.

[davee123]

I would assume he just kept doing it until the stress bent each individual brick and allowed him to finish the model.

Well, the bricks he used each time weren't necessarily the same bricks in the same orientation-- but yes, I'm sure the stress on the plastic was sufficient to start warping the bricks! If it weren't glued (it's one of the few parts of the Millyard that's actually glued), I expect if you took those pieces off they'd be BADLY bent. But mostly, it was just funny to periodically look over at his table when he was building it, and seeing a sudden spurt of 1x2 bricks go flying into the air as the model flew apart.

It's hard to tell the tight diameter in this picture, but here's one that I found of the bent wall:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=949629

I don't know exactly what radius is, but I'm the one that took measurements on the buildings for the overhead map, and looking at my electronic notes (not my handwritten ones, which would have better info), it looks like 11-12 studs of radius.

You can see in the picture where he interspersed some rows of 1x2 plates in with the 1x2 bricks (the old-brown horizontal stripes), but I don't remember why he ended up doing that.

DaveE

[Brickdoctor]

Wow. Looking at the gap between the edges of each brick, I can tell they're under quite some stress. Perhaps the rows of plates were used to keep the structure together. Stacks of plates are usually stronger than bricks.

[knotian]

I'm doing several round towers for an industrial MOC. I'm using the semi-traditional 1x2 + round method. My question is-

Has anyone seen or done a tower that had a taper to it? In other words was smaller at the top. I want to do a blast furnace and they typically have a tapered profile. My solution so far is to have several levels that will have plates across and decreasing the diameter at each level. The plates and associated railings are visible on many photographs of existing furnaces, so I don't think the 'steps' in the towers diameter will be too noticeable. I'm just looking for alternatives.

Ed

[rodiziorobs]

The best thing I can think of is to build several smaller rings of 1x2 + rounds (a few bricks high to hold them together independently) and attach them to a central technic axle using short axles and connectors inserted into a 1x2 brick with axle hole in each ring. If you tiled the top of each section then there wouldn't be any stud-gap, and the tecnhic axle connection would make sure each ring was centered. You could always hide the axle-hole brick on the outside with a bracket or ladder or something, or just position them in the back.

[mocbuild101]

Very interesting, I have never tried that before, do the bricks get damaged by the stress?

You could even build a giant mono-wheel with that technique .

[Trekkie99]

This concept has been around for awhile actually. Heres a good usage of it in this monorail.

As well as this one.

 

Edited June 3, 2017 by LegoMonorailFan

[knotian]

rodiziorobs

Thank you very much. The reduction with multiple levels is great. As far as reinforcing, I am using technic beams on edge anchored to a central shaft. The round end of the beam replaces one of the round bricks and preserves the design. Tiling the top level of each section is a good idea and really helps the look.

Ed

 

[rodiziorobs]

I would never have thought of using a technic beam instead of a round, that's pretty genius.

Good luck, post it here when you're done!

[knotian]

Shameless Plug

If anyone is looking for a good tool for designing projects, you need to try out Stud.io. This is being developed by BrickLink and is tied to their catalog rather than LDraw. Still in beta but, aside from great tools and interface, it has the easiest way of curving walls that I have found. It's rotational tool works only on bricks that are 'connected in the direction of rotation so you can take a straight wall and bend it to any diameter you need. I made a spreadsheet of all the rotation angles for walls, and it makes it a snap job.

Ed

[knotian]

rodiziorobs

I ended up doing cylinders of 24,22,20,18 and 16 units ( 1 unit is a 1x2 and a 1 round). I discarded the use of the odd numbered cylinders as the bracing was to shaky. Not as smooth, but it will do. I may try again to make a better show version with single unit reductions. The bottom is 12 bricks high and the others are 10. I built them all 12 but it was too high for the scale of the rest of the display.  The result was that I could brace the cylinder with side by side technic bricks and they would replace one of the 1x2's in the wall and therefore invisible. I used 2x2's in the middle between the braces to make it rigid. The bracing on the 22 and 18 cylinders required 2x2 plates and turntables to get them aligned in the center.You suggestion of the tiles was a great idea. I substituted 2 x 2 plates for the tiles where I wanted to join the sections. There is a little 'squishing' of each of the cylinders, maybe 1/3 stud or so, to allow the fit. It is not visible from display distance. The photo attached is vertical, the photographer is tipsy ( I meant tipped)

knotian

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qyumjskt5bk24zv/100_0634.JPG?dl=0

[rodiziorobs]

@knotian

Nice, the tower looks ace! The transition from level to level came out very smooth, but I am amazed at how huge the build is. I assumed from talking about it earlier that the top tier would be 8 studs diameter or so, and I was worried at those smaller dimensions that it just wouldn't look quite right. At this large scale, though, it looks very good.  Glad I was able to help in some small way